Furnace for iron-working



(No Model.) .2 Sheets-Sheet '1. W. HECKERT. FURNACE FOR IRON WORKING.

Qtbomma wiimfaoea 2 Sheets--Sheet 2. W. HEGKERT. FURNACE FOR IRONWORKING.

Patented Dec. 22, 1896-.

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(No Model.)

UNITED STATES \VILLIAM IIEOKERT,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF FINDLAY, OHIO.

FURNACE FOR IRON-WORKING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 573,590, dated December22, 1896.

Application filed November 6, 1891. Serial No. 411,071. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM HncKnRT, a citizen of the United'States,residing at Findlay, in the county of Hancock and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces for Iron-Working; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to improvements in furnaces foriron-working of the same general character as the furnace illustrated inPatent No. 446,971, dated February 2 1891.

The object of the invention is to provide a furnace of the characterabove mentioned, adapted to operate upon the well-known regenerativeprinciple, which shall be simple in construction and so organized as toproduce superior results by the smallest possible expenditure of fuel,and in which the supply of fuel may be easily controlled and themechanism for supplying fuel to the regeneratingchambers reversedsimultaneously with the reversal of the furnace, so as to prevent wasteof fuel which frequently results from the neglect or failure of theattendant of the furnace or watchman to cut off the fuel-supply onreversing a furnace of the usual construction.

Another object is to provide an apparatus by which the heat of thefurnace may be utilized in adapting the furnace for making or fixingfuel-gas for its own consumption, the furnace being also connected witha source of supply of natural gas which maybe used when desired.

lVith these objects in view my invention consists in the improvedconstruction and arrangement of parts, all substantially as hereinafterdescribed, and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference areused to designate like parts of the apparatus, Figure 1 represents afront elevation, partly in section, of a regenerating-furnace embodyingmy invention; and Fig. 2 is a plan illustrating the furnace in dottedlines and showing the gas-making apparatus applied thereto in fulllines.

A designates the furnace as a whole; B B, the end walls thereof; 0 O,the roof or cover; D, the stack, and E the hot-air chamber which isarranged above the reducing-chamber G and provided with air-inlet e andoutlet-open ing e, controlled by suitable slides or valves substantiallythe same as in the aforesaid patent.

F F F designate a series of regeneratingcha-mbers which are arrangedabove the reducing-chamber Gr and connected with the latter chamber andstack by suitable conduits or flues, as shown at the right of Fig. 1,three chambers being shown at each side of the hot-air chamber, but ofcourse a greater or less number of such chambers may be used.

It will be understood, of course, that the parts of the furnace at theleft of Fig. 1 are exactly similar to the construction and arrangementof the regenerating-chambers and flues shown in section at the rightside of said figure. Above the hot-air chamber is placed the reversiblevalve H, which controls the conduits leading to theregenerating-chambers and to the stack. This valve may be operated bymeans of suitable pull cords or ropes 7L h, secured at one end to an.arm or bell-crank lever 7L2, attached to the valve or valve-shaft.These cords h h are carried over pulleys 7L3 7L3 at each side of thefurnace, and the free ends of the cords extend downward to sheaves orpulleys upon the stems of regulating-valves I I, to which they areattached, said valves 1 I being provided with ordinary hand wheels,which when turned will cause the rope to pull upon the arm h and shiftthe valve H either to the right or to the left for the purpose ofreversing the furnace, and at the same time the supply of fuelgas willbe cut off at that side of the furnace at which the conduits connectingthe regenerating-chambers with the stack are pened.

The several chambers F F F have checkerwork built therein, as shown, andare separated by division-walls which have openings or conduitsfffi,connecting the several chambers alternately at the top and bottomthereof, so as to cause the heated air and gases to circulate up anddown through the chambers and the checker-work therein. Flues orconduits f preferably four in number, connect the chambers F G, thoughmore or less may be used, if desired. The valves I 1 are adapted toregulate and control the admission of gas derived from either oftwo'sources', that is, from a supply of natural gas, which may beadmitted through pipes K K, or artificial gas, which may be-obtainedfrom any suitable source of supply, as from a producer or tankcontaining petroleum or other suitable oil and connected by a pipe Lwith the gas apparatus of the furnace, as hereinafter described. Thepipes K K are provided with cut-off valves 10 7o below theregulating-valves and with similar valves 71: 10 above the same, and thepipe L is provided with a regulating-valve Z for controllingtheadmission of liquid or gaseous fuel to the gas-making apparatus. Forordinary purposes, and in localities where natural gas may be easilyobtained, the furnace may be operated in the usual manner by the use ofnatural gas admitted through the pipe K or K and its connections with asuitable source of supply; but in order to adapt the furnace to make itsown gas I provide suitable drums or tanks M M, one at each side of thefurnace, which preferably-extend transversely through theregenerating-chambers and the checker-work therein from front to rear ofthe furnace, the central chambers being most desirable for this purpose.These tanks may be connected with the supply-pipe L by means of suitablepipes N N O and couplings therefor, the pipes N N being provided withcut-off valves n H. At the front of the furnace the drums M M areconnected by means of pipes P P with the pipes K K. Each pipe P Pextends from the point of connection with the drum to the outer side orend of the furnace and runs thence backward parallel with the drum tothe pipe K or K, with which it connects by a suitable coupling.

Q Q designate pipes which connect with the pipes K K at one end and areprovided with a series of reduced burners q g, which may project throughthe furnace-walls into the regenerating-chambers F or into the fluesconnecting therewith, for the purpose of supplying the several chambersor fines with gas. When the latter is used, the air being more or lessconfined, the gas or fuel injected or conveyed directly into the fineswill thoroughly mix with the air contained therein, thereby materiallyaiding combustion and intensifying the heating of the volatile productsand the gases which pass through the reducing-chamber andregenerating-chambers to the stack. The pipes Q Q are made larger thanthe burners, so as to insure a uniform pressure at all the burners, andthe burners may each be provided with a regulating-valve by which thesupply of fuel thereto may be controlled.

By means of the gas-making apparatus and attachments connected therewiththe heatof the furnace may be utilized in converting hydrocarbon orother suitable oils into fuelgas for use with the furnace, and at thesame time the furnace is equipped with connections by which natural gasmay be used when it is not desired to have the furnace make its own gas,and in either case the supply of fuel may be regulated and controlledaccording to requirements. By connecting the valve 11 with theregulating-valves I I at either side of the furnace the supply offuelgas to. the flues will be cutoff at one side and turned on at theother simultaneously with the reversal of the furnace, so that alldanger of waste of fuel by reason of the neglect or failure of theattendant or watchman to properly cut oif the gas-supply when thefurnace is reversed-is avoided. The'regencrating-chambers being locatedabove the furnace and provided with conduits or openings communicatingwith adjacent chambers alternately at the top and bottom thereof,together with the checker-work built in each of said chambers, whichconstitute in effect a series of fines connecting the reducingchamberwith the stack, provides a very efficient means of utilizing to thefullest extent the regenerative principle or action of the furnace, sothat it is adapted to perform its several functions with the leastpossible ex- .penditure of fuel, and the general arrangement is simple,compact, and comparatively inexpensive.

The operation of my invention will be understood from the foregoingdescription to be substantially as follows: The furnace being suitablycharged and the valve H arranged so as to connect the stack with theupper portion of the conduit f, communicating with the inner chamber ofthe series of regenerating-chambers at one side of the furnace, whilethe upper portion of the inner chamber at the opposite side of thefurnace is connected with the hot-air chamber and airinlet, (theregenerating-chambers at that side of the furnace being supposed to havebeen previously heated,) and the chamber or basin G being charged withreduced ore or pig metal,combustion is begun by admitting fuelgas in theusual way through suitable nozzles having their outlets arranged todeliver the gas beneath the previously-heated regenerating-chamber. Theair drawn in through the heated chamber and circulating down the sameand up and down again through the series of regenerating chambers andthe checker-work therein will be highly heated and intensify the heat inthe reducing-chamher. The outgoing heated volatile products and gasesescaping up through the other regenerating-chambers and circulating in aserpentine course through the same and through the checker-work thereinwill heat said chambers and checker-work, and the heat of these partswill be utilized when the furnace is reversed in heating the incomingair or gas with which the furnace is supplied, in accordance with thewell-known regenerative principle. The heat of the regeneratingchamberswill serve also to heat the. drums or retorts M M, containing crudepetroleum or other suitable oil or unfixed gas, and thus produce or fixthe gas to be supplied to the furnace through the reduced burners q q,

When, however, it is not desired to have the furnace make its own gas,the regulatingvalve Z and the cut-0d valves or n [152 70 will be closed,and thereupon natural gas maybe admitted to the furnace through thepipes K K and the valves controlling the same.

It will of course be understood that the construction and arrangement ofparts thus described may be modified in a number of ways withoutdeparting from the spirit 'of my invention, and hence I do not wish tobe understood as limiting myself to the exact construction described andshown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination in a regenerative furnace of the reducing-chamber,the stack, the regenerating-chambers and flues or conduits connectingthe reducing-chamber and stack with the regenerating-chambers, thereversible valve controlling the conduits which connect the regeneratingchambers with the stack and with the hot-air chamber the drum or retortlocated in one of said regeneratingchambers, the fuel-supply pipeconnecting with said drum, and the feed-pipe provided with a series ofreduced burners leading into the fines or conduits which connect theregenerating-chambers with the reducing-chamber below saidregenerating-chanibers substantially as described.

2. The combination with the reducingchamber, the stack and centralhot-air chamgenerating-chambers with the stack and with the hot-airchamber, checker-Work within said regenerating-chambers, a drum locatedin one of said regeneratingchambers and a pipe leading therefrom andprovided with burners for supplying gas below the regenerating-chambersdirectly into the hot air before entering the reducing-chamber, a valvefor controlling the conduits which connect the regenerating-chamberswith the hot-air chamber and stack, and regulating-valves arranged uponthe fuel-conveying pipes, substantially as described. v

3. In a regenerating-furnace, the combination with the reducing-chamber,the hot-air chamber above the same, the stack, the regenerating-chamberson opposite sides of the hot-air chamber each provided with checkerworkand openings or conduits connecting the same with each other alsoopenings con necting the regenerating-chambers with the hot-air chamber,and the stack and fiues connecting same with the reducing-chamber, of areversible valve controlling the conduits which connect the regeneratingchambers with the hot-air chamber and the stack, a drum arranged in oneof the regeneratingchambers and connected to supply-pipes located onopposite sides of the furnace, the said pipes having fuel-burnersleading directly into the conduits or flues Which connect theregenerating-chambers with the reducing-chamber, regulatingyalvesarranged upon said pipes, and means for reversing the furnace andclosing the f uel-reg ulatin g valves from either side of the furnace,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM HEOKERT.

